NFL

Nicked-up Hakeem no reason for Giants to worry

Giants fans will need to hold their breath on this one.

Eli Manning’s go-to receiver not named Victor Cruz is Nicked Up.

“If I’m out there, I’d like to say I’d be myself, but you never know,” Hakeem Nicks said. “These things are tricky. I’m gonna go ahead and claim I’ll be myself out there. I always got to think positive.”

If I’m out there are four words that ought to send shudders down the spine of every Giants fan.

“I don’t see myself missing this game,” Nicks said.

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Tom Coughlin and Manning are similarly optimistic. But Nicks sat out yesterday’s practice with the hamstring he strained against the Jets. Manning will be hard-pressed to win a shootout with Tony Romo on Sunday night if Nicks is hamstrung in any capacity, or worse, if he suffers a setback during The Game of Games.

“I notice it, I can’t really dig like I want to right now,” Nicks said.

Asked if he expects to be 100 percent Sunday night, Nicks said: “Close to 100 percent as I can get. I don’t think nobody’s gonna be 100 percent playing football this time of year. Something’s gonna be nagging, something’s gonna be hurting, but come game time, you know how to put all that stuff behind you.”

Come game time, you won’t even think about it?

“No. If I’m playing, I’m not thinking about it,” Nicks said. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

It may have been out of sight against the Jets, but it was not out of mind for Nicks, who didn’t have time for his extensive pregame stretching regimen, once his hamstring began barking in the first quarter.

“I didn’t really have no burst,” Nicks said. “I couldn’t really do my releases how I wanted to off the line of scrimmage, showing favoritism to it ’cause I didn’t want to pull it. I’m not the one to make excuses. If I’m out there, I’m out there. You’re gonna get anything I can give you.”

Nicks said he is hopeful he will have his burst back against the Cowboys, and Manning needs him to be more than a decoy against that suspect secondary.

“That’s the plan, that’s why I’m taking it easy this week,” Nicks said. “I’m usually a fast healer so … looking forward to being out there.”

He is hoping to go through a limited practice today.

“I don’t expect me to have full-out practice, “ Nicks said.

If his hamstring holds up — big if, considering he missed the Patriots game in November because of the same hamstring — Nicks will expect to dominate.

“I just know how I bounce back,” Nicks said. “I know myself, I know my game and how I play. These last two weeks haven’t been my best. And plus, I was always told the bigger the stage the better I play, and I feel like that as well so … This is a big-stage game, and we know what’s at task, and we want to get to the playoffs, and I definitely do as well so we just gotta come out here and make it happen.”

But he made only one catch for 20 yards happen on Revis Island as he spent a good part of his sideline time getting stretched in front of the heater after getting a halftime wrap for support.

“I couldn’t really go deep,” Nicks said. “Just wanted to stay out there because I know even my presence out there can still help us out as far as on the run game or not just clouding one side.”

Nicks, whose large hands have become legendary around the Giants, has been plagued recently by the dropsies.

“I just need to [get] back down to the basics for myself personally, looking the ball all the way in,” he said. “Sometimes I get carried away too fast, I try to make a move without the ball. But with these last two games, the weather’s been playing a factor, so I’ve gotta do a better part of looking the ball in.”

Nicks has turned to the Juggs machine for assistance.

“I can go on a stretch where I won’t drop a ball for five, six weeks,” Nicks said. “I don’t normally have drop after drop after drop after drop. It’s normally … I go a whole season without drops, then I have a period where I might fit some in there, but that’s just me because I’m starting to lack concentration or something like that.”

There are no drops in Nicks’ confidence, however.

“I know I got good hands, the team knows I got good hands. Eli has trust in my hands, the coaches do as well,” Nicks said.

Yes, Eli does.

“Hakeem’s gonna be fine, he’ll be ready to play, and he’ll play well for us,” Manning said.

He had better. The last thing Manning and the Giants need now is a Catch-88.